White
House to respond after 70,000 demand secession of Texas from US
Houston,
we have a problem: more than 70,000 people have signed a petition on
the website of the White House asking for Texas to secede from the
United States.
13
November, 2012
Less
than a day after RT first reported that
a petition demanding the secession of The Lone Star State from the US
was on track to cross the 25,000 signature threshold to warrant an
official response, the tally of people requesting the speedy removal
of Texas from the United States tripled, going from 21,777 signees to
72,861 in under 24 hours.
The
Texas petition was
published on the White House’s official website on November 9, but
wasn’t the first to ask for secession. While the request from the
oil-rich home of the Alamo was published just two days after Pres.
Obama was declared victorious in his quest for re-election, Louisiana
was the first state to ask for an exit from the union on
WhiteHouse.gov, just hours after ballots were tallied on Nov. 6. By
the end of that weekend, Texas and 18 other locales had created
copycat petitions of their own, although the Lone Star State is by
and large the first to cross the 25,000 signature threshold.
According
to the rules on WhiteHous.gov, now either US President Barack Obama
or a member of his administration or staff will be required to
address the overwhelming number of votes to “Peacefully grant the
State of Texas to withdraw from the United States of America and
create its own NEW government.”
The
next step, according to a guide posted on the executive office’s
website, will be a full review followed by a response.
From
WhiteHouse.gov:
“The
White House will convene a regular meeting with representatives from
all of the major policy offices (like the National Economic Council,
Domestic Policy Council and others) that will review petitions that
have crossed the signature threshold for a response. This group will
help determine which policy office in the White House or federal
agency should review and respond to petitions and ensure that
petition responses are posted as quickly as possible.”
Commenting
to the Dallas Morning News on Tuesday, a White House rep says
“every petition that crosses the threshold receives a
response,” but
that the number of other petitions online will impact how long it
will take to deliver an answer.
In
the original secession request published last week out of Louisiana,
the petition’s author, “Michael E” of Sidell, LA, quoted the
opening line of the Declaration of Independence, the
eighteenth-century proclamation that announced the liberation of the
United States from Britain. Citing the sentiments of their
forefathers, Michael wrote,
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for
one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them
with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the
separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of
Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of
mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them
to the separation.”
In
the case of Texas, that petition’s author was a bit more specific
about grievances that were unimaginable during 1700s. Micah H. of
Arlington, TX writes in his state’s petition that
“The US continues to suffer economic difficulties stemming from the
federal government's neglect to reform domestic and foreign
spending,” adding
that “The
citizens of the US suffer from blatant abuses of their
rights,” citing
specifically the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as catalysts in the
erosion of civil liberties. “Given
that the state of Texas maintains a balanced budget and is the 15th
largest economy in the world, it is practically feasible for Texas to
withdraw from the union, and to do so would protect it's [sic]
citizens' standard of living and re-secure their rights and liberties
in accordance with the original ideas and beliefs of our founding
fathers which are no longer being reflected by the federal
government.”
Texas
Gov. Rick Perry, a one-time contender in this year’s race to become
the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, rejected the petition
in a statement relayed by his staff Monday afternoon.
“Gov.
Perry believes in the greatness of our Union and nothing should be
done to change it,”
Catherine Frazier, a press secretary for the governor, told the
Dallas Morning News. “But
he also shares the frustrations many Americans have with our federal
government. Now more than ever our country needs strong leadership
from states like Texas, that are making tough decisions to live
within their means, keep taxes low and provide opportunities to job
creators so their citizens can provide for their families and
prosper. We cannot allow Washington’s tax and spend,
one-size-fits-all mindset to jeopardize our children’s future,
undermine our personal liberties and drive our nation down a
dangerous path to greater dependence of government.”
As
of Tuesday afternoon, Florida is slated to be the next state to cross
the 25,000 signature threshold, falling just shy of 3,000 votes
needed to warrant a response. Since all petitions on WhiteHouse.gov
have 30 days to cross that mark, though, the Sunshine State and more
than a dozen others are likely to receive a reply from 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue in the coming weeks.
Another petition asking
President Obama to “Strip the Citizenship from Everyone who Signed
a Petition to Secede and Exile Them” has so far received 1,754
signatures.
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